Sex fans want more

As Sex and the City reaches its climax, most fans want a fairytale ending, writes Caroline Overington in New York.

Every Sunday for about a year, I've been going to Sex parties: the kind where girlfriends get together to watch Sex and the City.

Our host, Kathryn Nilsson, works on Park Avenue, lives in a book-lined apartment, met her guy on the internet and serves Chilean wine, pears and brie.

Kathryn calls our parties "interactive television" as we are always shouting. Last week, the noise was indescribable.

It was the next-to-last episode of Sex, and "Big" had turned up. Fans of the show - which ends in the US on Monday afternoon Melbourne time - will know that Big (played by Chris Noth) has been an on-again, off-again lover for Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker). He couldn't commit, so she pursued a life without him. Then, just as she was set to go to Paris with her new boyfriend, Aleksandr (Mikhail Baryshnikov), Big arrived in his limo.

"Don't get in, don't get in!" screamed the women at Kathryn's party. But she got in - then jumped out, and moved to Paris anyway.

With one episode to go, the question is: will Big follow her? And if he does, will she swoon?

In a Newsweek article last week, Parker, who is also executive producer, said: "We've made a decision, and I hope people understand why. I hope people will feel that Carrie is loved and loving, and that she feels contentment."

If Carrie does fall for Big, the show will have turned on itself and its premise that the single life can be the most fulfilling. Two years ago, the four main characters - Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda - appeared on the cover of Time magazine, under the headline: "Who needs a husband?"

Now, two of the characters are married, Miranda has a baby, Charlotte is trying to have one, and Carrie seems poised to be swept off her feet.

And that is what the show's core fans, women aged 25 to 40, want. The main Sex and the City internet site was buzzing last week. Nobody was pleading with Carrie to stay single into her 40s. They were begging her to take back Big. And hoping Charlotte would get pregnant.

"Carrie and Big have to be together!" said one romantic. "I couldn't imagine it happening any other way!"

In other words, thanks for the sexual freedom, but we'll take marriage, children and a bit of romance.

Sex and the City was supposed to change that. The characters were as bawdy as men, and no sex topic was too rude to discuss over cocktails.

Or will she live happily-ever-after with commitment-shy Mr Big?Picture: Supplied

And yet, when Janet Jackson bared a breast at the Super Bowl two weeks ago, the Government received 200,000 complaints in a day, a Tennessee woman filed a class action lawsuit, and a TV executive had to testify before Congress.

So, if Sex didn't weaken American mores, what was it all about? The producers say: "Female friendship."

In real life some of the cast are allegedly not on speaking terms, but on the show the characters have weathered their highs and lows together. The men came and went. The women stayed until the end. Or, as Big says: "You guys are the loves of her (Carrie's) life. I'll be lucky to come in fourth."